Written by

Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer insists it took an angelic intervention to get Tom Cruise to sign onto the 1986 film Top Gun - a Blue Angels intervention.

Cruise just wouldn't commit to the role of pilot Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell until Bruckheimer secured him an outing with the U.S. Navy's celebrated Blue Angels flight demonstration team. Their jets apparently gave Cruise the need for speed.

"He had the time of his life in that ride. It excited the heck out of him," says Bruckheimer. "Right after, he went to a pay phone - they didn't have mobile phones then - and he called me up to say 'I'm in.' I can ...